Wrong Sox

Love him or hate him—and I did both, often at the same time—Lucas Gioltio will pitch for the Sox next year. The Red Sox, that is. What I wouldn’t give to hear Gioltio swap tales with Chris Sale about life on the South Side. Rather than bring back someone who pitched a no-hitter for them in 2020, the other Sox signed right-hander Chris Flexen to a one-year deal. Along with the recently signed Erick Fedde, the Whjte Sox have on the roster two starters who spent time in the Korean Baseball Organization. Be still, my beating heart. What I wouldn’t give to hear what Dylan Cease has to say to his ex-teammate Giolito about his new teammates, assuming, of course, that Cease doesn’t become an ex-teammate himself.

"Gur-ta"

In yet another baby step at re-whatevering, White Sox GM Chris Getz signed lefty sidearm reliever Tim Hill to a one-year deal. Either out of belief or necessity, Getz has given manager Mickey Mouse someone who gets outs from the movement of his pitches rather than their speed. Good. Not everyone needs to throw 100 mph out of the pen. Too bad the move cost rookie reliever Declan Cronin his spot on the roster. I have a soft spot for Cronin dating to his performance in a video on the team website last season, about the correct pronunciation of Chicago street names. Cronin was the only player able to say “Goethe” correctly. The 18th century German poet-playwright and author of “Faust” would’ve said “Gur-ta,” just like the twenty-five year old righty out of Holy Cross did. Most Chicagoans say, “Gur-dey.” Cronin most likely was DFA’d because his 9.00 ERA over eleven innings with the Sox indicate he has a 4-A fastball. Declan, search out Wilbur Wood or R.A. Dickey, and learn how to throw a knuckleball. Mix your other pitches in with a good knuckler, and you’ll be back in the bigtime.

In Retrospect

By the end of last season, this is how much the White Sox regretted their signing of catcher Yasmani Grandal back in 2019—with one month left on his contract, Grandal started seven games behind the place to eighteen for Korey Lee, who at no point hit higher than .094. Carlos Perez also started four games. Wait, there’s more. A few weeks ago, the Sox acquired Max Stassi from the Braves. Stassi was injured all of last year, but the new front office of Chris Getz and company would rather go with the rehabbing Stassi, a career .212 hitter, than bring back Grandal in any way, shape or form. Wait, there’s more. Last week, Getz went out and signed Martin Maldonado to a one-year deal. Maldonado is a career .207 hitter who put up a .191 BA last season with the Astros. Again, this is considered an upgrade over Grandal. Holy Rick Hahn. The Sox are in their current predicament because they worked so hard to get there. Nobody has bothered to pick up Grandal yet, and nobody appears interested in adding Hahn to their front office. Gosh, I wonder why.

Déjà vu

The Bulls lost to a good Cleveland team Saturday, so I wondered how they’d respond last night facing Atlanta at home. The Hawks have a bunch of players greater than their sum, starting with guard Trae Young. That man can score, and pass when he wants to. Lo and behold, the Bulls won even though they were without center Nikola Vucevic. They may have won because they were without Vucevic, who suffered a groin injury against the Cavs. Andre Drumond started at center, and, wow, did he deliver. Drummond pulled down twenty-five rebounds to go with twenty-four points in a 118-113 win. Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu did a nice Jerry Sloan/Norm Van Lier imitation while DeMar DeRozan was his reliable self with the game winding down. Drummond’s twenty-five boards reminded me of Tom Boerwinkle, who holds the team record with thirty-seven against the Suns back in January of 1970. I won’t say DeRozan is the second coming of Chet Walker or Bob Love, though. He reminds me more of ex-White Sox Jermaine Dye. I never realized how good Dye was until he came to the Sox. Ditto DeRozan. These retro-Bulls are still four games under .500, but the arrow definitely seems to be pointing up. I hope so. It’ll help make January go a little faster.

Blah Bears

After the Christmas Eve Family Mass yesterday afternoon, everyone went over to Grandma and Grandpa’s for a dinner of barley soup and meatless pierogi. This is what the inn keeper provided Joseph and Mary out in his stable. Leo was happy to play with the Tootsie Toys I bought as part of his gifts. For the uninitiated, these are hand-sized cars and trucks, very detailed, made from steel back in the day, my day. I bough a tow truck; a flatbed; and a car carrier with four cars. We were driving everywhere, up my shoulders, along the living room wall. I saw enough of the Bears-Cardinals’ game to shake my head. Twenty-one unanswered points midway through the second quarter, and they still had to hang on, 27-16? Typical Munsters. Our boys ran the ball thirty-nine times for 250 yards. Danger, danger, because that means they didn’t throw the ball much and/or for much yardage. Yup, Justin Fields went fifteen of twenty-seven for 170 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. But, hey, he ran nine times for ninety-seven yards! Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy did what Luke Getsy does, call any number of questionable plays. Head coach Matt Eberflus did what Matt Eberflus does, jibber this and jibber that in his postgame comments. Thank God for the Tootsie Toys.

One(s) Who Got Away

Bad teams are bad in a variety of ways: They acquire the wrong players. They keep the wrong players. They let go of the wrong players. The Bulls are trying not to be a bad team, which is hard considering they thought acquiring and then signing Zach LaVine to a big extension was a good idea. At least they’ve seen the error of their ways in that regard. But last night’s 109-95 loss to the Cavaliers highlighted another Oops in the player personnel department. You dis Max Strus at your own peril. Strus is yet another Chicago-area athlete our teams have managed to overlook, though that’s not exactly the case with Strus, who caught on with the Bulls after playing for De Paul. But a knee injury in 2019 ended the small forward’s cup of coffee with his hometown team. Strus blossomed coming off the bench after signing with the Heat. Something about playing with Jimmy Butler, no doubt. This off-season, he went to the Cavaliers, who aren’t complaining. Strus is averaging over fourteen points a game and last night torched his ex-team for twenty-six. Strus, Butler, Bobby Portis. Some teams wouldn’t know talent if it bit them on the butt.

Color Me Skeptical

Baseball-reference.com compares Shohei with his 681 career hits to Pete Alonso, Tony Clark and Greg Walker. The thirty-eight career wins puts him in the company of Jose Fernandez, Mike Clevinger (!) and Jose Urquidy. Somehow, all those modest names turned into a $700 million contract for Ohtani. Nice work, if you can get it. With pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, major-league “work” doesn’t even enter into it, or at least it didn’t for the Dodgers, who on Thursday signed Yamamoto to a twelve-year deal worth $325 million. Not one inning, not one-third of an inning, not one pitch in the major leagues, and a monster contract. Nice payoff, if you can get it. As you might expect, all the usual suspects love the deal; it shows how serious Los Angeles is in getting back to the World Series. OK, but Yamamoto stands all of 5’10”. That’s Tim Lincecum territory, and Lincecum had seven ten-plus-win seasons, three of them under .500. Lincecum made an estimated $102.55 million over the course of a ten-year career. Oh, and he was done at age thirty-two. Yamamoto will turn twenty-six next August. I won’t get all Jerry Reinsdorf here and go into Cassandra mode about the dangers of long-term deals for pitchers. The Dodgers either got it right, or they’ll crash and burn. But this does inflate—dare I say “artificially”?—the value of starting pitchers. Given a choice, I’d take Ichiro and Hideo Nomo over Ohtani and Yamamoto. Time will tell.

Coach

Clare and I had lunch with her college softball coach yesterday. The best way to describe Coach P is as a master teller of stories, all of them true, all of them connecting one person to another. Kevin Bacon needs six degrees. Coach P gets it done in two, three max. I can hold my own talking sports, provided I can steer the conversation away from hockey or college football; when that fails, I employ a mean head-nod, as if I know what the other person is saying, or agree. What struck me was how good my daughter was at the same thing. She didn’t even need to nod. We talked baseball (Coach P hates Yasmani Grandal); they talked softball and college politics. There was a time when Coach P wanted Clare to take his place, but things happened, and the world turned a different way. Some things are not meant to be. Because Coach P is connected to everyone (see above), he knows new White Sox infielder Nicky Lopez, who went to high school by him. We may even get Sox tickets through him. Lopez, I mean. No, Coach P. No, both. This interconnectedness takes some getting used to.

See Above

Now, it’s starting to get interesting. The Bulls beat LeBron James and company last night, 124-108, in a game that wasn’t close most of the time. And, yes, Alex Caruso played, for twenty-seven minutes, no less. Caruso was good for fifteen points, six rebounds and enough smart defense to leave me hoping he can stay healthy tonight against the Spurs. A win against San Antonio would put the Bulls at 13-17, not great but a whole lot better than when Zach LaVine was healthy. It’s funny to amazing how Patrick Williams at age twenty-two and Coby White at twenty-three seem to have figured things out all of a sudden. At twenty-eight, LaVine is still the same old same old, always needing the ball, for better and often worse, in order to get his points. Rumor has it the Lakers are interested in LaVine, with the Bulls wanting Austin Reaves in return. Who he? Think a smoother, younger Caruso. It’s a trade I’d make in a heartbeat, but the LA front office isn’t quite so desperate yet. Maybe a few more losses to sub-.500 teams will change their mind. Fingers crossed.

The X-Factor

The Bulls lost to the Bucks in overtime last Monday as Giannis Antetokounmpo took over late. They lost to the Heat in the closing seconds on Saturday as Jimmy Butler took over. Last night, they won 108-104 in Philadelphia, halting the 76ers’ six-game win streak and overcoming Joel Embiid’s forty points. What was different between this game and the two losses? Alex Caruso. The brittle, vital sixth man was injured and didn’t play against the Bucks and Heat. Last night, Caruso logged 30:30 and helped defend against Embiid, who failed to make a game-tying shot close in off the glass with six seconds left. Caruso plays, and his team has a chance. He sits, and good luck. The Bulls are 6-3 since Zach LaVine went down with a foot injury; all the losses have been close or pretty close. Without LaVine, they’re a team with everyone pulling in the same direction. With Caruso, they’re a team with a chance of making the playoffs.

Three's a Charm

With Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Browns, the Munsters have now blown three fourth-quarter double-digit leads in going down to defeat. Fingers crossed, this means the end of head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Eberflus/Getsy twice went for it on fourth down instead of trying admittedly long, fifty-plus-yards’ field goals; both times, Cleveland prevailed. Cairo Santos makes one of those kicks, and the Bears might have walked away with their third straight victory. Joe Flacco, all thirty-eight years of him, got intercepted three times, and still he engineered the winning drive(s). Flacco threw for 212 yards in the fourth quarter. In the future, the Bears’ secondary might want to hold off on celebrating takeaways until the game’s over. Here’s the thing. There’s no way Flacco gets to pull this off if he’s quarterbacking the Munsters; after three interceptions, E/G would’ve run the ball or seen how many bubble screens they could call over the course of fifteen minutes. Or, in total desperation, they would’ve mixed runs up the middle with bubble screens. Here's another thing—Flacco doesn’t get to do anything if the Bear offense were awake in the fourth quarter. Perish the thought. Other teams play to increase their lead. The Munsters only want to preserve the lead. This is how receiver Darnell Mooney put it: “I didn’t like how we felt comfortable in the third quarter, just lackadaisical and conservative. Everybody was just happy we were winning.” [today’s Tribune] Yes, indeed. The Bears ran the ball twenty-seven times, enough to make you think they racked up a lot or yards. Nope, just eighty-eight. The Browns managed a mere twenty-nine yards on eighteen carries. The difference? Flacco threw for 374 yards to Justin Fields’ 166. But this loss isn’t on Fields; pin it squarely on E/G. Then, send them packing.

Tutorial

The Bulls were up by two over the Heat with a minute to play last night in Miami, when a DeMar DeRozan turnover turned into a game-tying fast break. Then, with fourteen seconds left, Nikola Zucevic missed a close-in hook shot. Ex-Bull Jimmy Butler snared the rebound and hit the game-winning jumper as time expired. Miami 118 Chicago 116. The Bulls don’t have a Buter (though they once did). They also don’t have a Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose thirty-two points led the Bucks to an overtime 133-129 win over Chicago on Monday. Until the Bulls acquire players of that caliber, they’re going to keep losing the close ones.

Never-never Land

The Sun-Times did a story today on Tony La Russa, manager-turned-advisor to the White Sox. Current manager Mickey Mouse, who is nothing if not a suck-up to power, called his predecessor “one of the great managers in this game” and someone who “has become a good friend.” If they handed out awards for apple polishing, Mouse would have a shelf full of them. Nothing in the story about the upcoming SoxFest, because there won’t be one. Jerry Reinsdorf is not interested in hearing from the peasants. And nothing so far on a new television voice to replace Jason Benetti. That will come in good time, when Reinsdorf feels like it. At least the gray sky matches my mood.

Unexpected

We were so wrapped up in “$100,000 Pyramid” I totally forgot about the Bulls’ game. Imagine my surprise to find they beat the Heat in Miami, 124-116. Cody White continues to impress; last night, White had twenty-six points to go with seven rebounds and eleven assists. Ayo Dosunmu came off the bench to score twenty-four, along with eight boards and five assists. My gosh, even Nikola Vucevic look good. The big man also scored twenty-four points while tallying twelve boards and seven assists. The only problem was why Dosunmu came off the bench—he had to replace Alex Caruso, who went 4:52 before suffering his latest injury; Vucevic accidentally stepped on Caruso’s left foot. With that, an old problem turned into an aggravated one. Holy Pete Reiser, this man is injury-prone. The Bulls and Heat play again tomorrow. Maybe we’ll watch the next episode of “The Crown,” just to be on the safe side.

"Readymade"

Marcel Duchamp was a smart-aleck French artist who once bought a urinal which he then submitted to an art exhibition. To Duchamp, this was “readymade” art, an object decreed by an artist to have artistic merit. Ha, Ha. That said (and laughed at), I agree with Duchamp in that art can be what we say it is, even when it started off as something other than art. Recently, smokestacks and decades-old ads painted on building exteriors in Chicago have fit into that category. Let me add the photos of George Burke, who once worked as team photographer for the Cubs and White Sox. Burke was active in the 1930s and ’40s. Supposedly, he was hired by accident. Cubs’ manager Joe McCarthy confused him with the previous team photographer, who shared the same last name. When he found his mistake, McCarthy still gave George Burke a chance if only because his studio on Belmont Avenue was so close to Wrigley Field. The readymades started soon after. Burke got the job even though he wasn’t much of a baseball fan; that’s where talent helped. Baseball often takes a subordinate role in his photos, four of which I recently bought on eBay. Never have members of the 1935 White Sox looked so good. Three of the 4”x6” shots appear to have been done indoors. Ballplayers in uniform with no field in sight—that was daring worthy of Duchamp. But there they are: Rip Radcliff, “Sad” Sam Jones and Merv Shea, in profile. Shea is sitting on a chair, the full jersey logo showing, S-O-X superimposed on a bat, a baseball inside the O. For Radcliffe and Jones, only the S appears in their photos. What stands out are the faces, not one smile among them. Each player has a look somewhere between serious and bemused, as if they know the Sox won’t even play .500 ball that season. Zeke Bonura, the fourth photo, differs in that he is definitely smiling and definitely outside, yet the background is blurred and the S-O-X all but bleached out by the sun. What makes these photos art? In part, because of how they compare to the work of George Brace, Burke’s assistant who took over after Burke suffered a stroke. Brace’s work is pretty straightforward, typically showing player and park. You can all but hear him tell Jim Landis, Smile. Of course, it’s possible that Brace took those photos in 1935, but I doubt it. In any case, I’ll put them Facebook, and you can judge for yourself.

Like I Said

Two losses down, two games against a good team to go. So much for the Bulls’ four-game winning streak. Two things remain constant, though. This looks to be a team that can count on Coby White. If only the same could be said of Alex Caruso. White has been a revelation this season (and hats off to Sun-Times beat writer Joe Cowley for admitting he was wrong to write White off. That makes two of us.). Those two losses, in overtime to the Bucks and against reigning champs the Nuggets, saw White score thirty-three and twenty-seven points respectively. For the season, White is shooting 43.2 percent on three-pointers and tallying 4.5 assists a game. Lonzo who? Too bad Caruso missed both games due to injury. Each contest was close, and his defense could’ve made a difference in either of them. I know it’s not his fault, but the second coming of Jerry Sloan doesn’t matter unless he can play every game.

Sign Now, Pay Later

It appears Shohei Ohtani’s ten-year, $700 million contract is more of a twenty-year deal. For the first ten years, Ohtani will be paid $2 million a season, then $68 million a season for the next ten years. This gives the Dodgers some payroll flexibility in pursuing other free agents, or so they say. I wonder what kind of deal Jerry Reinsdorf would’ve signed off on? My guess is a hundred years at $700 million, or 700 hundred years.

Corrupting Our Nation's Youth

This is how my Sunday went. First, I chased my 2-1/2 year-old grandson around the house—living room to hallway to kitchen to dining room back to living room. Then, after three or four times around, he’d say, “No, I chase you.” And he did. Then I’d chase him; he’d chase me; Michele read him a few books; we watched “Paw Patrol” (don’t ask); and we ate lunch. After he shared his pretzels with me, we threw a little football back and forth. At this point, he’s better at throwing then catching. Next, he took the football to the far end of the room and ran into me, each time shouting, “Touchdown!” After nine or so touchdowns, he hit me and let out, “Packers win!” I was heartbroken. When his parents came home, I let the father know a child that small doesn’t really know what he’s saying; you blame the parent. To which the parent replied, “The Bears beating the Lions helped the Packers. Thanks.” And it was time to go home.

Is He Worth It?

The Dodgers have signed Shoehi Ohtani to a ten-year contract worth $700 million. Is he worth it? In a word, No. Let’s start with Ohtani being a two-way player—only he isn’t, not really. As a starter, the right-hander has a 38-19 record over five seasons with a 3.01 ERA, and two Tommy John surgeries. The Dodgers didn’t spend $700 million for an occasional appearance by Ohtani on the mound. If he thinks otherwise, Houston, we have a problem. Nobody seems willing to note the obvious about two-way players, that they double the chance for injury. Even if Ohtani were never to get injured pitching again, he’d be accelerating the inevitable erosion of skills that comes with time. And how’s he going to avoid fatigue, if not injury? What the Dodgers have here is a very good DH (he only played the field seven games with the Angels when not pitching), which then leads to the question, all that money for an offense-only player? According to baseball-reference.com, the top players Ohtani is compared to at this point in his career are Pete Alonso, Tony Clark and Greg—he of the White Sox—Walker. Can you spot the future HOFer in that trio? I can’t. So, Ohtani has parlayed 681 career hits and thirty-eight wins into a record-setting contract. I have no problem with that. If he works out the way the Dodgers think he will, good for them. It’s worth noting here that they’ll probably top four million in attendance next season. Lucky for them they have a “legacy” ballpark with a 56,000 seating capacity. All those dinky parks in the 30,000 range will never be able to do that, to offset that kind of contract with ticket sales or enjoy the windfall of a Dodger Stadium-sized crowd when Ohtani comes to town. One last thing—I hope Ohtani can take the pressure. Nobody blamed him for the Angels never being able to win more than eighty games during his six seasons in Anaheim, this despite having Mike Trout for a teammate. At $700 million, Ohtani won’t be able to get away with playing the smiling sphynx anymore. From now on at Chavez Ravine, it’s World Series or bust.

What Comes Next

The Bulls have now won all four games Zach LaVine has missed with a foot injury. Last night, they managed their second road win of the season, topping the Spurs, 121-112. A 9-14 record may be less than average, but a whole lot better than 5-14. Now comes the hard part, with the Bulls’ next four games against the Bucks, Nuggets and Heat. This should provide a good test to see what playing without LaVine really looks like. I should mention here that the Spurs, who led by eleven at halftime, are now 3-18. Which leads to the question, how good is Spurs’ rookie Victor Wembanyama? Well, he scored twenty-one points while grabbing twenty rebounds. That still begs the question, though. And any comparisons fall into the apples-and-oranges category. But here goes. The Bulls won twenty-seven games the season before Michael Jordan’s arrival, and they won eleven more games with their rookie sensation. The Cavaliers jumped from seventeen to thirty-five wins playing rookie LeBron James. Right now, it doesn’t look like Wembanyama is going to lead the way to thirty-plus wins for his new team, but we’ll see.

Insult to Injury

I can just imagine White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf alone in his Nashville hotel room looking for ways to further alienate his team’s fan base. “Eureka!” he shouts, I’ll meet with the city’s mayor and direct the front office not to release any details. Mission accomplished. Reinsdorf truly doesn’t care what the peasants think of him. I still say the Sox moving to Nashville is a longshot at best, and I doubt that’s why Reinsdorf and Mayor Freddie O’Connell chatted on Tuesday. No, the reason for the meeting was Reinsdorf couldn’t pass up the chance to stick it to the fans. Don’t tell me how this is Reinsdorf looking for leverage with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority with the lease on Guaranteed Rate Whatever expiring in 2019. The only reason the ISFA exists was to administer the stadium Reinsdorf wanted built out of public funds. When Michele and I rented an apartment as newlyweds, the landlords didn’t build it just for us. And, when we left, they found someone to take our place, one-two-three. This ain’t that. Of course, if fans reach the point next season that they start boycotting Sox games, it’ll be our fault, and the team will have no choice but to consider relocating. It’s always our fault. Just ask Reinsdorf.

Dense

He just doesn’t get it. White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf thinks people should think of him the way he does. I don’t think so. Reinsdorf graced reporters with his presence on Monday during the winter meetings in Nashville. The human sphynx wanted to talk about Jim Leyland, newly elected to the HOF. Leyland started off his major-league coaching career under Tony LaRussa. Reinsdorf said he offered Leyland the Sox managing job after Jerry Manual was let go in 2003. Tribune sports’ columnist Paul Sullivan says it was after Terry Bevington got the boot. [Trib column yesterday] If Reinsdorf is right, Leyland chose the Marlins instead, and he won a World Series in 1997. If Sullivan is right, Leyland went to Detroit, where he won two pennants. I wonder why he didn’t come to Chicago. Oh, right, Jerry Reinsdorf would’ve been his boss. It takes a certain kind of person willing to accept that, like La Russa or Mickey Mouse. As Reinsdorf himself knows, there aren’t a lot of those types around.

Hype

On Monday, an MLB.com story described outfielder Jarred Kelenic, just traded from the Mariners to the Braves, as someone who “has not lived up to the great expectations that surrounded him when he was the top prospect the Mets used to acquire Robinson Canó and Edwin Díaz from the Mariners after the 2018 season.” What a change in tune. Here's the website on 3-2-20: Did Kelenic go full Bambino for first homer? Do a search, and MLB.com couldn’t say enough about Kelenic, until the stats (career .204 BA over three seasons, with thirty-two homeruns and 109 RBIs) indicated it was time to take a step back, that, or find someone else to ballyhoo. That’s the thing about MLB.com—it’s all hype all the time. Once upon a time, that included Jarred Kelenic. Now, the superlatives get heaped on Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto. The real irony is that the website comes out of the commissioner’s office, and the commissioner exists to serve the owners first, as evidenced by the website treatment of the 2021-2022 lockout. But the owners are a dumb lot, seemingly oblivious to the fact that media attention drives up the value of players, which in turn drives up their cost. If Ohtani scores an out-of-this-world contract, don’t blame him. The owners made it possible. And, if Jarred Kelenic feels a little bit used, he was, by MLB.com.

Baby Steps

By beating the Pelicans 124-118 last night, the 7-14 Bulls accomplished something they hadn’t done all season, win two games in a row. Truly, baby steps. Two players have looked good recently. In this his fifth season, Coby White is finally looking like a real point guard, as evidenced by his thirty-one points and six assists against New Orleans. More improbable is the improvement of Patrick Williams, scoring in double figures over his last five games and playing plus defense. Who knew? Zach LaVine missed both games with a foot injury and isn’t expected back until Friday. Two games is a coincidence. But if the Bulls beat Charlotte on Wednesday, it’s time to connect the dots, and wins.

Unexpected Fun

Pretty much on a whim, I turned on the Purdue-Northwestern men’s basketball game last night, about halfway through the second half. For the first time in, I don’t know, forever, college hoops felt exciting. Welsh-Ryan Arena was rocking, as the kids like to say. NU gave top-ranked Purdue more than it could handle, even with all-world giant center (7’4”) Zach Edey scoring thirty-five points with fourteen rebounds in a game that went into overtime before the Wildcats pulled off the 92-88 upset. Guard Boo Buie—love the name—led NU with thirty-one points and nine assists. Wildcats’ coach Chris Collins seems to be heading in the opposite direction of his football ex-counterpart, Pat Fitzgerald. Three years ago, Fitgerald looked to have a job for life in Evanston, if he wanted it, while Collins’ star was in decline. But after an NCAA Big Dance appearance that went two games, Collins’ team looks ready for more March madness. As long as he runs a clean program (see Fitzgerald), good for him. And the same for Buie after coming back for his senior year. As for Edey, an intriguing talent. The era of the big center is long gone in the NBA. Edey may change that with a combination of athleticism and offense. It would be interesting to see him matched up against Spurs’ rookie Victor Wembanyama, a 7’4” power forward. Wembanyama was supposed to be the next LeBron James. He’s averaging 19.3 points and 9.7 rebounds a game so far, which is nice, but Wembanyama hasn’t led the 3-16 Spurs back to relevance. Will Edey, who’s probably going to be the top pick in the 2024 NBA draft, be any better? It’ll be interesting to see.

Calm Before the Storm

The winter meetings start Sunday, and all indications are the White Sox will be active. Not big free-agent signings, of course, because Jerry Reinsdorf operates with a small mind that translates into a small-to-medium-sized budget for his team. But there will be trades, I’ll bet. Dylan Cease is all but gone, and probably Eloy Jimenez, too. I wouldn’t stop until Yoan Moncada was moved, but that’s just me. Then again, Moncada is Rick Hahn’s pride and joy, not Chris Getz’s. The one free-agent signing I’d like to see is Lucas Giolito, assuming everyone who thought Giolito was too smart by half is no longer part of the front office. Ownership couldn’t have felt that way, too, right?